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Books by Elizabeth Reyes

Moreno Brothers Series

Forever Mine
Forever Yours
Sweet Sofie
When You Were Mine
Always Been Mine
Romero
Making You Mine
Tangled—A Moreno Brothers novella

5th Street Series

Noah
Gio
Hector
Abel
Felix

Fate Series
Fate
Breaking Brandon
 Suspicious Minds
Again
Rage
His to Guard
Uninvited

Boyle Heights Series

Lila
Beast
Nine
Orlando

Looking Glass Series

Girl in the Mirror
We Were One

Stand Alone Books

Desert Heat
Defining Love
Remi’s Choice
 MORENO’S

A Moreno Brothers’ series prequel

By Elizabeth Reyes
 Moreno’s
Elizabeth Reyes
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment
only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If
you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase
an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and
did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then
please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Copyright © 2020 Elizabeth Reyes
Edited by Theresa Wegand
Cover Design by Amanda Simpson of Pixel Mischief Design
Note to readers:

If you’ve read my books before, you know I tend to sprinkle Spanish words throughout my stories,
usually in the dialogue where the parents are speaking. Most of my characters are Mexican American,
born and raised here and, like me, their parents are originally from Mexico and mostly Spanish
speaking. This story is a little different. This couple was born and raised in Mexico and their first
language is Spanish, but obviously the book is written in English. However, to stay as true to the story
as possible, I used a LOT more Spanish words in this one than any of my other books. I had fun
cussing in both languages. LOL. I don’t do any translating, but I try to make the meaning of said words
clear in the context they’re used. My beta readers said they didn’t have an issue, and most are not
Spanish speaking. They also pointed out that, in their readers, they have the translate option, so in
case there is a word you can’t figure out, you can always use that. ¡Espero que les guste!
 Table of Contents

Prólogo
Capítulo 1
Capítulo 2
Capítulo 3
Capítulo 4
Capítulo 5
Capítulo 6
Capítulo 7
Capítulo 8
Capítulo 9
Capítulo 10
Capítulo 11
Capítulo 12
Capítulo 13
Capítulo 14
Capítulo 15
Capítulo 16
Capítulo 17
Capítulo 18
Capítulo 19
Capítulo 20
Capítulo 21
Capítulo 22
Capítulo 23
Epílogo
Also By Elizabeth Reyes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
 PRÓLOGO

No Regrets
Alejandro
The music was playing, the crowd was in good spirits, and all Alej’s could think was, What the hell
had he been thinking? While his head reasoned that he deserved to have fun—deserved to let loose
and the feelings of guilt were unwarranted—his heart said otherwise.
“¡Ándale, güey,” Cido urged. “You promised you wouldn’t be a downer. What’s the point in being
here if you’re not even gonna try to mingle? See those two at the end of the bar behind me?” His
friend took a swig of his beer, looking behind Alej all overly inconspicuous. “They been looking this
way, and I’m pretty sure the guerrita is eyeing you.”
Alej brought his bottle of cerveza to his mouth and took a swig. He glanced over at the girls
casually as Cido ordered two shots of tequila. Cido was right. The girl with the blond hair smiled
sheepishly at him. Going against his better judgment and only because it felt like the polite thing to do,
he smiled back, tipping his hat at her.
The bartender poured the shots and Cido paid him. “Come on.” Cido picked one up and handed
the other one to Alej. “It’s New Year’s Eve, man. Snap the fuck out of it already, and let’s do this.”
Clicking his shot glass against Alej’s, Cido lifted it in the air. “To moving on.”
Alej frowned but took the shot with him anyway. Feeling the burn in his throat and then his chest,
Alej winced, chasing it down with his beer.
“Smooth,” Cido said hoarsely before taking another swig of his beer. “Hell yeah!”
Glancing at Cido, Alej watched as his friend lifted his beer in the air in the direction of the girls.
When Alej turned to them, they were lifting their drinks at him as well and smiling big.
“I told you.” Still smiling big, Cido didn’t bother looking at Alej. Instead, he leaned in against the
bar. “Hey, Chief, can I get four more of these? But I’ll take them down at the end of the bar.” Now he
turned to an already panicking Alej and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go. I’m done with your
mopey ass. Enough of this shit. You’re getting laid.”
“Wait. What?” Alej started off his bar stool but hesitated. “I said I’d go out tonight. Never said
anything about getting laid or even . . .”
“Well, you can at least have some fun.” Cido tapped him so he’d move, and Alej did reluctantly.
“We’ll play it by ear.”
They walked over and introduced themselves to Patty and Aleida, the blonde batting her lashes at
Alej. First thing they mentioned was being sisters, even though there wasn’t much of a resemblance.
“You girls here alone tonight?” Cido asked.
“Yeah, but we’re not staying all night. We just stopped by to get a few drinks before heading out to
a party.”
“Party, huh?” Cido smirked as the bartender dropped off the four shots. “This place ain’t good
enough for you?”
“It is,” Patty said, glancing around. “But we’ve had plans to attend this party for some time now.”
Handing them each a shot, which they happily took, Cido raised his, motioning for Alej to take the
last one off the counter. Alej did, despite the knot forming in his stomach. He could only hope these
girls would leave for their party sooner than later.
“Here’s to taking chances.” Cido clinked Patty’s glass. “Living in the now.” He clinked Aleida’s
then turned to Alej, lifting a brow. “And no regrets.” With one more lift of his glass, Cido tipped his
hat at the girls and they all downed their shots.
“Taking chances. I like that. Speaking of,” Patty said with a wince after sucking a lemon wedge.
“How do you guys feel about coche anchos?”
“Coche ancho?” Cido asked.
“Limusinas,” Patty clarified. “Our dad is very overprotective. So, when we told him we were
going out for the New Year, he rented us a limu.” She bounced her eyes at her sister, who chewed her
bottom lip. “Live in the now?” After Aleida gave the go-ahead nod, Patty turned to Cido with a big
smile. “What do you say we go drive around for a while and then you two can be our dates for the
party? Limo’s fully stocked with liquor.”
“Hell, yeah,” Cido said without even consulting Alej. Patty started looking through her purse as
Cido turned to a now completely panicked Alej. “Hear that?” he said in a lowered voice. “A pinchi
limo.”
“Cido, I can’t, man—”
“You can and you will,” Cido huffed in an even lower voice now. “Stop with this shit already.
You owe this to yourself, güey. It’s New Year’s Eve and two beautiful girls invited us to a party in a
fully stocked limo.” He placed his hand on Alej’s shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t ruin this for me. For
all you know, nothing will even happen.”
“Is there a problem?” Patty asked.
Both girls were off their barstools now, eyeing them in question. “None at all, hermosa.” He
clapped Alej’s shoulder again. “My friend was just worried about leaving his car here.”
“Oh, we can bring you back to pick it up after the party,” Patty offered; then her smile went a little
playful. “Or tomorrow morning if you’re not up to driving tonight.”
Alej pressed his lips together as Cido turned to him with an equally playful smile. “You see there?
Problem solved.”
Swallowing hard, Alej placed his empty beer bottle on the counter as Cido slipped his hand in
Patty’s and they walked off ahead of Alej and Aleida. Feeling rude but unwilling to do the same with
Aleida, he walked alongside her, not holding her hand. As they made their way through the crowded
club, Aleida began to lag. Alej turned to her and slowed. She must’ve taken that as an invitation to
hold his hand because she slipped hers into his as soon as she caught up and smiled timidly. Alej
glanced down at their now clasped hands, working his jaw. This night was just getting started.
No regrets, his fucking ass.
 CAPÍTULO 1

Pueblo De Oro
Chihuahua, Mexico
Way Back
Alejandro
“Placido and Salvador, this is the last time I ask you to stop talking,” the maestra said loudly as she
tapped her pointer stick on her desk. Alej squirmed in his desk. Why she couldn’t just bend and call
him Alej like everyone else, was annoying as hell. “The next time I have to interrupt the class because
of you two, I’m sending you home. You won’t be allowed back in here until your padres come see
me.”
“Yeah, the solterona would love that,” Cido muttered under his breath.
“What was that, Placido?”
“Uh . . . Nothing, Señorita Munoz. I just said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’”
Alej couldn’t help smirking but still gave Cido a warning look. Cido was always doing the
talking. Half the time Alej was just sitting there trying to stay awake, especially on Monday mornings
like that day.
“Now if I could have everyone’s attention, I’d like to introduce a new student to the class.”
Finally looking away from Cido after giving him a chastising glare, Alejandro brought his
attention to the front of the class. He was instantly struck at the sight of the new student standing next
to their teacher: a young girl with the biggest most stunning dark eyes he’d ever seen. She stood
timidly next to the teacher, holding her pink mochila at her chest.
Sitting up straight suddenly, Alej waited for the teacher to say the girl’s name. For someone who
was still trying to figure out what the big deal about girls was, Alej couldn’t take his eyes off this one.
He fully expected the teacher to say her name was Angel because it was exactly what she looked like
—a stunning angel with the most beautiful yet shy smile, wearing her hair in braids with red ribbons
in them.
“I’d like you to give a warm welcome to Isabella Franco who just moved into town with her
mother and grandmother. Everybody say hello to Isabella.”
Isabella Franco. Alej took in the name as the rest of the class all welcomed her. He was still too
transfixed with her. She continued to smile timidly—awkwardly—as the maestra nodded, clapping
and encouraging the class to clap with her. Alej breathed in heavily at the sight of the deep pair of
adorable dimples on either of Isabella’s cheeks.
“She’s cute, eh?” Cido said, elbowing him.
“I’m gonna marry her.”
Juana, the girl in front of him jerked around to face him. Giggling, she brought her hand to her
mouth. It wasn’t even until that moment that he realized he’d said the words out loud.
“You’re stupid,” Cido said as Alej’s eyes followed Isabella to the desk she was assigned, way on
the other side of the classroom. Where the younger kids sat. Trying to snap out of it, Alej sat back in
his seat. What the hell was he doing? This was school yard suicide. They’d tease him mercilessly if
he continued to act like this.
For the rest of the morning, he could barely concentrate. It was almost annoying. Nearly done with
the sixth grade now, he’d yet to so much as have a crush on any girl, let alone feel this struck over one
he’d hadn’t even spoken to yet. Aside from her name and what little the teacher had told them, he
knew nothing else about her. So, what was his problem?
The rest of the week, he was up bright and early and ready to go each day—something so unlike
him even his dad had asked what was with him. Of course, Alej had just shrugged and feigned
ignorance of what his dad might mean.
It wasn’t until the end of the week that he finally conjured up the nerve to talk to her. They’d
exchanged glances plenty of times since that first day. He was certain she knew about his careless
declaration since Juana had wasted no time in going over to talk to her during their first recess that
day. Several girls had huddled around her, and they’d all giggled when Alej, Cido, and a few of the
other guys had walked by.
He’d been surprised to find out she was only in the fourth grade. Not only did she look older, she
seemed far more mature than some of the other annoyingly silly girls at school. He also knew now that
La Vuida Franco was her mother and she, Isabella, and her grandma had moved out of the city to
Pueblo De Oro to raise Isabella when her father was killed, because it was cheaper than the city.
They’d moved into the old house the Infantes had built and lived in for years. Word about the new
folks in town had gotten around fast. As everything always did.
Alej’s older sister Lucia was making dinner that Friday evening when she ran out of onions. His
dad gave him money to run down to the pueblo’s mercantile to buy one. He’d just walked into the
small store when he saw Isabella and their eyes met. Just like all the other times that week when their
eyes had met, he felt oddly panicked again. Only this time he was determined to say something to her.
Isabella was standing over by the barrel of frijoles. She was filling a small plastic bag with them.
Her hair wasn’t in braids as it had been all week at school. It was long, thick, almost black, and fell
beautifully over her shoulders. She wore a red bow in her hair, and unlike the rest of the week when
their eyes had met at school, she smiled at him this time. Her dimples seemed even deeper now than
when he’d first noticed them.
Alej wasn’t even sure he smiled back. He was too busy trying not to look as panicked as being
this close to her made him. After just a moment, she glanced back down and focused on what she was
doing. Taking a deep breath, Alej walked over to her.
“Hey,” he said, his heart beating so wildly as those big dark eyes met his again. “I’m Alej.”
“I know.” She smiled sweetly, and once again he was at it like a big sap, breathing in deeply.
“Alejandro, but everyone calls you Alej. So why does the maestra call you Salvador?”
“My first name is Salvador. But so is my dad’s, so my parents have always used my middle name
to avoid confusion. Only Señorita Munoz is a stickler for using first and full names. So, to her, I’ll
always be Salvador.”
She nodded. “I have a Tio Alej in El Paso,” she informed him. “My aunt’s husband. But I’ve never
met him. Just heard a lot about him.”
Alej couldn’t care less about her uncle. Only he did want her to keep talking. Her voice matched
his first impression of her. It was the voice of an angel. A couple of boys ran into the store, boys Alej
knew from around the pueblo and school. One of them took a look at them standing there chatting and
was instantly smirking like a pendejo.
At first, Alej had been annoyed that word of his declaration about marrying Isabella had gotten
around school so quickly. But now he was glad it had. Without realizing it, he’d instantly called dibs
on the prettiest girl in el pueblo.
Ignoring the smirking idiota, Alej turned back to Isabella, who was now tying a knot on the plastic
bag full of beans. “You here with your mom?”
She shook her head. “She’s home with my abuela making dinner. But they wanted to get a pot of
beans soaking tonight, and we were out.”
“So, that’s all you’re buying?”
She nodded, and he rushed over to grab an onion before she headed over to pay for her beans.
They walked to the counter together and paid for their things. Then they left together. The Infante’s old
place wasn’t too far out of the way from his, so he decided he’d escort her home.
“I’ll carry that home for you.” He held out his hand for her to give him the bag of beans.
She hesitated at first but then did so when he kept his hand stretched out.
“Did you guys buy the Infante’s house?”
“No, my mom and grandma are renting. But if they could save up, they’ll have the option to buy it.
They just want to see how they like living in this pueblo first.”
“How do you like it so far?”
“It’s different,” she said, and Alej couldn’t make out if that was a good or bad thing.
“You made friends fast.”
Isabella shrugged. “The girls seemed to like me well enough the first few days, but yesterday and
today, I sort of got the cold shoulder from a few of them. It doesn’t surprise me, though. At my old
school, I had more guy friends than I did girls.”
That really caught his interest. “You did?”
“Yeah, my mom said she was always the same way too growing up. She says it’s sad, but so many
girls are so dramaticas. Boys are so much more laid back.”
Alej thought about that. Did this mean she’d be hanging out with the boys at school more now?
Cido had since made another comment that week about her being cute. A comment that’d had Alej
muttering under his breath since Cido hadn’t been the only guy he’d seen eyeing her in a way that said
they thought so too.
The only good thing was, while the guys in this town might be more laid back than the
“dramatica” girls, they were all pendejos, his best friend Cido included. Here Alej had only spoken
to Isabella for a few minutes, and already he could tell she was far more self-confident and more
mature than any of the boys he knew, himself included. Though the two years he had on her helped him
play it off a bit.
“I’m sorry about your mom.” Her statement broke him out of his thoughts. “I heard about the
accident. That had to be so hard for you.”
Alej stared at her for a moment. He hadn’t thought about his mother’s sudden death in a while. His
sister had taken it so much harder than he had. Not that it hadn’t been hard on him as well. But seeing
how utterly destroyed his sister had been by the unexpected loss of their mother, had made him step
up along with his dad and be strong for her.
“Yeah, it was tough.” He stared out into space as they continued to walk slowly down the dirt
road. “We’d been going into the city every weekend for as long as I can remember. So, coming home
that weekend without her. . .”
 He shook his head unable to finish. This wasn’t what he’d imagined his first conversation with the
girl he’d been daydreaming about all week would be like. He swallowed hard, trying not to get
emotional. The last thing he wanted was for her first real impression of him to be that of a sniffling
marica.
“If I tell you something you promise you won’t share it with anyone?”
Alej turned to her, surprised by this. As if she’d read his mind, she went on before he could
respond to that. “I’m only sharing this with you because I don’t think it’s fair that I’d know something
so personal about you before ever speaking to you.”
He shook his head. “That’s okay. It was in the paper, and in case you haven’t noticed, chisme
travels fast in this pueblo. So, everybody who lives here knew about it before we even got home that
night. But yeah, I promise.”
She took a deep breath, staring ahead. “We didn’t really move here because my mom was recently
widowed and we couldn’t afford living in the city anymore. I don’t even remember my dad. My dad
was killed during a drug deal gone wrong in the city when I was just a baby.” She turned to him and
rolled her eyes. “My mom had no idea he was involved in anything like that, but according to the
police and witnesses, he was the one doing the selling, and they robbed him then shot him. So, it’s not
like we’re chusma, only my grandma thinks it might make us look bad. The widow and daughter of a
drug dealer, you know?” She lifted her hands, making air quotes. “Qué dirá la gente?” What people
will think or say is all my grandmother ever worries about. She’s the one who’s been insisting for
years we move away and get a fresh start somewhere where nobody knows us. She originally wanted
us to go along with saying she was my mother and my mom and I were sisters and that my mom had
never been married. Since my mom married so young and still looks young enough, we could pass as
sisters. But my mom refused. The most she’d go along with was moving and saying she was just
recently widowed after my dad got sick and died. But we did move out here because it was cheaper
than living in the city.”
Their eyes met, and he took a deep breath when she smiled again, and the deep dimples made
another appearance. “Thanks for holding those for me, Alejandro.” She reached out for the bag of
beans.
Alej hadn’t even realized they were already just a few feet away from her house. “No worries.”
He handed them to her. “And next week, if the girls give you the cold shoulder, you come hang with
me.”
Anyone who may’ve heard the invitation would think it just that. That he’d worded it wrong and
meant to say, you can come hang with me. But Alej had worded the phrase that way for a reason.
She smiled almost knowingly. He’d been spot on with his first impression about her. She was far
more mature for her age than would be expected. Her sharing such a secret and explaining why it was
one also confirmed something else he’d picked up about her. Isabella couldn’t care less that he or
likely anyone else knew about her dad. She was that poised even at her young age. But she’d honor
her grandmother’s wishes by at least trying to keep it on the downlow. Already there was so much to
like about her than just how damn cute she was. But if she was going to hang out with the laid-back
boys instead of the girls, it was him she’d be doing it with. He’d make sure of it.
 CAPÍTULO 2

Escuela Secundaria
Middle School
Isabella
Ever since the day Alejandro had walked Isabella home from the town’s mercantile that first week
she’d arrived at the pueblo, they’d slowly become best friends. As expected, the girls did turn out to
be drama. Isabella’s mom and grandma assured her a lot of girls were just sangronas with other girls.
Her grandmother went as far as to say women were naturally catty to one another and in her
experience in life you only ever really had one or two good friends and had to watch out for the
others. Though Isabella saw plenty of them hanging out together in groups of more than two just fine.
Alejandro had a different theory. One he was adamant about. “They’re jealous.”
Isabella, who was now Isa to Alejandro, had laughed, a bit embarrassed when she first heard him
declare it so matter-of-factly. “Of what?” she’d asked.
“Are you kidding me?” he’d retorted incredulously. “Look at you! Even way back when you first
walked into the classroom, when you were a timid little fourth grader, you were beautiful and full of
confidence. It’s what I loved about you from the moment we started hanging out. Those girls knew
they’d never stand a chance against you when it came to vying for any boys’ attention.”
It reminded her of the one thing she and Alejandro had never discussed but both knew she was
well aware of. In hindsight, Isabella knew now why those girls had been so eager to befriend her that
first day. They’d been hoping to embarrass her by teasing her about the fact that Alejandro Moreno
had said he was going to marry her.
After getting a better look at him and being caught in his intense eyes that first week, she’d been
beyond flattered, not to mention excited. Only at that age she had no idea how to react to something
like that. So, she’d done what her mom and grandma had always told her to do to avoid getting teased
mercilessly. She’d pretended it was no big deal, as if she didn’t have the incredible urge to giggle
nervously like the schoolgirl she’d been, along with them. The cutest boy in class had declared this
about her. Even now, it made her smile silly.
By the end of that first week back then, she’d been labeled conceited and full of herself. So, the
following week after their walk home from the pueblo’s mercantile, she took him up on his offer.
Technically, Alejandro and Cido were her two best friends now since Cido and Alejandro did
everything together. This meant Cido was always around. But her relationship with Alejandro ran so
much deeper .
At fourteen, she still wasn’t brave enough to say it. She was far too young to even be thinking
about it. And with her grandmother still being the ever-worrying queen of,”¿Qué dirá la gente?”
Isabella dared not admit this to anyone. But she had every intention of holding Alejandro to that
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
'My uncle,' answered Eugenia, 'is incapable of giving pain to any
body, and least of all to you, whom he loves with such fondness; he
has not therefore comprehended the affair; he only considers, in
general, that to please or to displease Edgar Mandlebert can be a
matter of no moment to you, when compared with its importance to
Indiana.'
'It is a thousand and a thousand, a million and a million times more
important to me, than it can ever be to her!' exclaimed the ardent
Camilla, 'for she values not his kindness, she knows not his worth,
she is insensible to his virtues!'
'You judge too hastily, my dear Camilla; she has not indeed your
warmth of heart; but if she did not wish the union to take place, why
would she shew all this disquiet in the apprehension of its breach?'
Camilla, surprised into recollection, endeavoured to become calmer.
'You, indeed,' continued the temperate Eugenia, 'if so situated,
would not so have behaved; you would not have been so unjust;
and you could not have been so weak; but still, if you had received,
however causelessly, any alarm for the affection of the man you
meant to marry, and that man were as amiable as Edgar, you would
have been equally disturbed.'
Camilla, convinced, yet shocked, felt the flutter of her heart give a
thousand hues to her face, and walking to the window, leaned far
out to gasp for breath.
'Weigh the request more coolly, and you cannot refuse a short
compliance. I am sure you would not make Indiana unhappy.'
'O, no! not for the world!' cried she, struggling to seem more
reasonable than she felt.
'Yet how can she be otherwise, if she imagines you have more of the
notice and esteem of Edgar than herself?'
Camilla now had not a word to say; the subject dropt; she took up a
book, and by earnest internal remonstrances, commanded herself to
appear at tea-time with tolerable serenity.
The evening was passed in spiritless conversation, or in listening to
the piano-forte, upon which Indiana, with the utmost difficulty,
played some very easy lessons.
At night, the following answer arrived from Dr. Marchmont:

To Edgar Mandlebert, Esq.

Parsonage House, Cleves,
Friday Night.
My Dear Friend,
I must be thankful, in a moment of such enthusiasm, that you
can pay the attention of even recollecting those evils with which
my zeal only has, you think, encompassed you. I cannot insist
upon the practice of caution which you deem unfounded; but as
you wait my answer, I will once more open upon my sentiments,
and communicate my wishes. It is now only I can speak them;
the instant you have informed the young lady of your own,
silences them for ever. Your honour and her happiness become
then entangled in each other, and I know not which I would
least willingly assail. What in all men is base, would to you, I
believe, be impossible—to trifle with such favour as may be the
growth of your own undisguised partiality.
Your present vehemence to ascertain the permanent possession
of one you conceive formed for your felicity, obscures, to your
now absorbed faculties, the thousand nameless, but tenacious,
delicacies annexed by your species of character to your powers
of enjoyment. In two words, then, let me tell you, what, in a
short time, you will daily tell yourself: you cannot be happy if
not exclusively loved; for you cannot excite, you cannot bestow
happiness.
By exclusively, I do not mean to the exclusion of other
connections and regard; far from it; those who covet in a bride
the oblivion of all former friendships, all early affections, weaken
the finest ties of humanity, and dissolve the first compact of
unregistered but genuine integrity. The husband, who would
rather rationally than with romance be loved himself, should
seek to cherish, not obliterate the kind feelings of nature in its
first expansions. These, where properly bestowed, are the
guarantees to that constant and respectable tenderness, which
a narrow and selfish jealousy rarely fails to convert into distaste
and disgust.
The partiality which I mean you to ascertain, injures not these
prior claims; I mean but a partiality exclusive of your situation in
life, and of all declaration of your passion: a partiality, in fine,
that is appropriate to yourself, not to the rank in the world with
which you may tempt her ambition, nor to the blandishments of
flattery, which only soften the heart by intoxicating the
understanding.
Observe, therefore, if your general character, and usual conduct,
strike her mind; if her esteem is yours without the attraction of
assiduity and adulation; if your natural disposition and manners
make your society grateful to her, and your approbation
desirable.
It is thus alone you can secure your own contentment; for it is
thus alone your reflecting mind can snatch from the time to
come the dangerous surmises of a dubious retrospection.
Remember, you can always advance; you can never, in honour,
go back; and believe me when I tell you, that the mere simple
avowal of preference, which only ultimately binds the man, is
frequently what first captivates the woman. If her mind is not
previously occupied, it operates with such seductive sway, it so
soothes, so flatters, so bewitches her self-complacency, that
while she listens, she imperceptibly fancies she participates in
 sentiments, which, but the minute before, occurred not even to
her imagination; and while her hand is the recompence of her
own eulogy, she is not herself aware if she has bestowed it
where her esteem and regard, unbiassed by the eloquence of
acknowledged admiration, would have wished it sought, or if it
has simply been the boon of her own gratified vanity.
I now no longer urge your acquiescence, my dear friend; I
merely entreat you twice to peruse what I have written, and
then leave you to act by the result of such perusal.
I remain
Your truly faithful and obliged
Gabriel Marchmont.

Edgar ran through this letter with an impatience wholly foreign to his
general character. 'Why,' cried he, 'will he thus obtrude upon me
these fastidious doubts and causeless difficulties? I begged but the
restitution of my promise, and he gives it me in words that nearly
annihilate my power of using it.'
Disappointed and displeased, he hastily put it into his pocket-book,
resolving to seek Camilla, and commit the consequences of an
interview to the impulses it might awaken.
He was half way down stairs, when the sentence finishing with, 'you
cannot excite, you cannot bestow happiness,' confusedly recurred to
him: 'If in that,' thought he, 'I fail, I am a stranger to it myself, and a
stranger for ever;' and, returning to his room, he re-opened the
letter to look for the passage.
The sentence lost nothing by being read a second time; he paused
upon it dejectedly, and presently re-read the whole epistle.
'He is not quite wrong!' cried he, pensively; 'there is nothing very
unreasonable in what he urges: true, indeed, it is, that I can never
be happy myself, if her happiness is not entwined around my own.'
The first blight thus borne to that ardent glee with which the
imagination rewards its own elevated speculations, he yet a third
time read the letter.
'He is right!' he then cried; 'I will investigate her sentiments, and
know what are my chances for her regard; what I owe to real
approbation; and what merely to intimacy of situation. I will
postpone all explanation till my visit here expires, and devote the
probationary interval, to an examination which shall obviate all
danger of either deceiving my own reason, or of beguiling her
inconsiderate acceptance.'
This settled, he rejoiced in a mastery over his eagerness, which he
considered as complete, since it would defer for no less than a week
the declaration of his passion.
 CHAPTER III
An Author's Notion of Travelling
The next morning Camilla, sad and unwilling to appear, was the last
who entered the breakfast-parlour. Edgar instantly discerned the
continued unhappiness, which an assumed smile concealed from the
unsuspicious Sir Hugh, and the week of delay before him seemed an
outrage to all his wishes.
While she was drinking her first cup of tea, a servant came in, and
told her the carriage was ready.
She coloured, but nobody spoke, and the servant retired. Edgar was
going to ask the design for the morning, when Miss Margland said
—'Miss Camilla, as the horses have got to go and return, you had
better not keep them waiting.'
Colouring still more deeply, she was going to disclaim having ordered
them, though well aware for what purpose they were come, when
Sir Hugh said—'I think, my dear, you had best take Eugenia with
you, which may serve you as a companion to talk to, in case you
want to say anything by the way, which I take for granted; young
people not much liking to hold their tongues for a long while
together, which is very natural, having so little to think of.'
'Miss Eugenia, then,' cried Miss Margland, before Camilla could reply,
'run for your cloak as soon as you have finished your breakfast.'
Eugenia, hoping to aid her sister in performing a task, which she
considered as a peace-offering to Indiana, said, she had already
done.
Camilla now lost all courage for resistance; but feeling her chagrin
almost intolerable, quitted the room with her tea undrunk, and
without making known if she should return or not.
Eugenia followed, and Edgar, much amazed, said, he had forgotten
to order his horse for his morning's ride, and hastily made off:
determined to be ready to hand the sisters to the carriage, and learn
whither it was to drive.
Camilla, who, in flying to her room, thought of nothing less than
preparing for an excursion which she now detested, was again
surprised in tears by Eugenia.
'What, my dearest Camilla,' she cried, 'can thus continually affect
you? you cannot be so unhappy without some cause!—why will you
not trust your Eugenia?'
'I cannot talk,' she answered, ashamed to repeat reasons which she
knew Eugenia held to be inadequate to her concern—'If there is no
resource against this persecution—if I must render myself hateful to
give them satisfaction, let us, at least, be gone immediately, and let
me be spared seeing the person I so ungratefully offend.'
She then hurried down stairs; but finding Edgar in waiting, still more
quickly hurried back, and in an agony, for which she attempted not
to account, cast herself into a chair, and told Eugenia, that if Miss
Margland did not contrive to call Edgar away, the universe could not
prevail with her to pass him in such defiance.
'My dear Camilla,' said Eugenia, surprized, yet compassionately, 'if
this visit is become so painful to you, relinquish it at once.'
'Ah, no! for that cruel Miss Margland will then accuse me of staying
away only to follow the counsel of Edgar.'
She stopt; for the countenance of Eugenia said—'And is that not
your motive?' A sudden consciousness took place of her distress; she
hid her face, in the hope of concealing her emotion, and with as
calm a voice as she could attain, said, the moment they could pass
unobserved she would set off.
Eugenia went downstairs.
'Alas! alas!' she then cried, 'into what misery has this barbarous Miss
Margland thrown me! Eugenia herself seems now to suspect
something wrong; and so, I suppose, will my uncle; and I can only
convince them of my innocence by acting towards Edgar as a
monster.—Ah! I would sooner a thousand times let them all think me
guilty!'
Eugenia had met Miss Margland in the hall, who, impatient for their
departure, passed her, and ascended the stairs.
At the sound of her footsteps, the horror of her reproaches and
insinuations conquered every other feeling, and Camilla, starting up,
rushed forward, and saying 'Good morning!' ran off.
Edgar was still at the door, and came forward to offer her his hand.
'Pray take care of Eugenia,' she cried, abruptly passing him, and
darting, unaided, into the chaise. Edgar, astonished, obeyed, and
gave his more welcome assistance to Eugenia; but when both were
seated, said—'Where shall I tell the postillion to drive?'
Camilla, who was pulling one of the green blinds up, and again
letting it down, twenty times in a minute, affected not to hear him;
but Eugenia answered, 'to the Grove, to Mrs. Arlbery's.'
The postillion had already received his orders from Miss Margland,
and drove off; leaving Edgar mute with surprise, disappointment and
mortification.
Miss Margland was just behind him, and conceived this the fortunate
instant for eradicating from his mind every favourable pre-possession
for Camilla; assuming, therefore, an air of concern, she said—'So,
you have found Miss Camilla out, in spite of all her precautions! she
would fain not have had you know her frolic.'
'Not know it! has there, then, been any plan? did Miss Camilla intend
——'
'O, she intends nothing in the world for two minutes together! only
she did not like you should find out her fickleness. You know, I told
you, before, she was all whim; and so you will find. You may always
take my opinion, be assured. Miss Lynmere is the only one among
them that is always the same, always good, always amiable.'
'And is not Miss——' he was going to say Camilla, but checking
himself, finished with—'Miss Eugenia, at least, always equal, always
consistent?'
'Why, she is better than Miss Camilla; but not one among them has
any steadiness, or real sweetness, but Miss Lynmere. As to Miss
Camilla, if she has not her own way, there's no enduring her, she
frets, and is so cross. When you put her off, in that friendly manner,
from gadding after a new acquaintance so improper for her, you set
her into such an ill humour, that she has done nothing but cry, as
you may have seen by her eyes, and worry herself and all of us
round, except you, ever since; but she was afraid of you, for fear
you should take her to task, which she hates of all things.'
Half incredulous, yet half shocked, Edgar turned from this harangue
in silent disgust. He knew the splenetic nature of Miss Margland, and
trusted she might be wrong; but he knew, too, her opportunities for
observation, and dreaded lest she might be right. Camilla had been
certainly low spirited, weeping, and restless; was it possible it could
be for so slight, so unmeaning a cause? His wish was to follow her
on horseback; but this, unauthorized, might betray too much
anxiety: he tried not to think of what had been said by Dr.
Marchmont, while this cloud hung over her disposition and sincerity;
for whatever might be the malignity of Miss Margland, the breach of
a promise, of which the voluntary sweetness had so lately proved his
final captivation, could not be doubted, and called aloud for
explanation.
He mounted, however, his horse, to make his promised enquiries of
Mrs. Needham; for though the time was already past for impeding
the acquaintance from taking place, its progress might yet be stopt,
should it be found incompatible with propriety.
The young ladies had scarce left the Park, when Sir Hugh,
recollecting a promise he had made to Mr. and Mrs. Tyrold, of never
suffering Eugenia to go abroad unattended by some gentleman,
while Bellamy remained in the country, sent hastily to beg that Edgar
would follow the carriage.
Edgar was out of sight, and there was no chance of overtaking him.
'Lack-a-day!' said Sir Hugh, 'those young folks can never walk a
horse but full gallop!' He then resolved to ask Dr. Orkborne to go
after his pupil, and ride by the side of the chaise. He ordered a horse
to be saddled; and, to lose no time by messages, the tardiness of
which he had already experienced with this gentleman, he went
himself to his apartment, and after several vain rappings at his door,
entered the room unbid, saying—'Good Dr. Orkborne, unless you are
dead, which God forbid! I think it's something uncomfortable that
you can't speak to a person waiting at your door; not that I pretend
to doubt but you may have your proper reasons, being what I can't
judge.'
He then begged he would get booted and spurred instantly, and
follow his two nieces to Mrs. Arlbery's, in order to take care of
Eugenia; adding, 'though I'm afraid, Doctor, by your look, you don't
much listen to me, which I am sorry for; my not being able to speak
like Horace and Virgil being no fault of mine, but of my poor
capacity, which no man can be said to be answerable for.'
He then again entreated him to set off.
'Only a moment, sir! I only beg you'll accord me one moment!' cried
the Doctor, with a fretful sigh; while, screening his eyes with his left
hand, he endeavoured hastily to make a memorandum of his ideas,
before he forced them to any other subject.
'Really, Dr. Orkborne,' said Sir Hugh, somewhat displeased, 'I must
needs remark, for a friend, I think this rather slow: however, I can't
say I am much disappointed, now, that I did not turn out a scholar
myself, for I see, plain enough, you learned men think nothing of
any consequence but Homer and such; which, however, I don't
mean to take ill, knowing it was like enough to have been my own
case.'
He then left the room, intending to send a man and horse after the
chaise, to desire his two nieces to return immediately.
Dr. Orkborne, who, though copiously stored with the works of the
ancients, had a sluggish understanding, and no imagination, was
entirely overset by this intrusion. The chain of his observations was
utterly broken; he strove vainly to rescue from oblivion the slow
ripening fruits of his tardy conceptions, and, proportioning his
estimation of their value by their labour, he not only considered his
own loss as irreparable, but the whole world to be injured by so
unfortunate an interruption.
The recollection, however, which refused to assist his fame, was
importunate in reminding him that the present offender was his
patron; and his total want of skill in character kept from him the just
confidence he would otherwise have placed in the unalterable
goodness of heart of Sir Hugh, whom, though he despised for his
ignorance, he feared for his power.
Uneasy, therefore, at his exit, which he concluded to be made in
wrath, he uttered a dolorous groan over his papers, and compelled
himself to follow, with an apology, the innocent enemy of his glory.
Sir Hugh, who never harboured displeasure for two minutes in his
life, was more inclined to offer an excuse himself for what he had
dropt against learning, than to resist the slightest concession from
the Doctor, whom he only begged to make haste, the horse being
already at the door. But Dr. Orkborne, as soon as he comprehended
what was desired, revived from the weight of sacrificing so much
time; he had never been on horseback since he was fifteen years of
age, and declared, to the wondering baronet, he could not risk his
neck by undertaking such a journey.
In high satisfaction, he would then have returned to his room,
persuaded that, when his mind was disembarrassed, a parallel
between two ancient authors which, with much painful stretch of
thought, he had suggested, and which, with the most elaborate
difficulty, he was arranging and drawing up, would recur again to his
memory: but Sir Hugh, always eager in expedients, said, he should
follow in the coach, which might be ready time enough for him to
arrive at Mrs. Arlbery's before the visit was over, and to bring
Eugenia safe back; 'which,' cried he, 'is the main point, for the sake
of seeing that she goes no where else.'
Dr. Orkborne, looking extremely blank at this unexpected
proposition, stood still.
'Won't you go, then, my good friend?'
The Doctor, after a long pause, and in a most dejected tone, sighed
out, 'Yes, sir, certainly, with the greatest—alacrity.'
Sir Hugh, who took everything literally that seemed right or good-
natured, thanked him, and ordered the horses to be put to the coach
with all possible expedition.
It was soon at the door, and Dr. Orkborne, who had spent in his
room the intervening period, in moaning the loss of the time that
was to succeed, and in an opinion that two hours of this morning
would have been of more value to him than two years when it was
gone, reluctantly obeyed the call that obliged him to descend: but he
had no sooner entered the carriage, and found he was to have it to
himself, than leaping suddenly from it, as the groom, who was to
attend him, was preparing to shut the door, he hastened back to his
chamber to collect a packet of books and papers, through the means
of which he hoped to recall those flowers of rhetoric, upon which he
was willing to risk his future reputation.
The astonished groom, concluding something had frightened him,
jumped into the coach to find the cause of his flight; but Sir Hugh,
who was advancing to give his final directions, called out, with some
displeasure 'Hollo, there, you Jacob! if Dr. Orkborne thinks to get you
to go for my nieces in place of himself, it's what I don't approve;
which, however, you need not take amiss, one man being no more
born with a livery upon his back than another; which God forbid I
should think otherwise. Nevertheless, my little girls must have a
proper respect shewn them; which, it's surprising Dr. Orkborne
should not know as well as me.'
And, much disconcerted, he walked to the parlour, to ruminate upon
some other measure.
'I am sure, your honour,' said Jacob, following him, 'I got in with no
ill intention; but what it was as come across the Doctor I don't
know; but just as I was a going to shut the door, without saying
never a word, out he pops, and runs upstairs again; so I only got in
to see if something had hurt him; but I can't find nothing of no sort.'
Then, putting to the door, and looking sagaciously, 'Please your
honour,' he continued, 'I dare say it's only some maggot got into his
brain from over reading and writing; for all the maids think he'll soon
be cracked.'
'That's very wrong of them, Jacob; and I desire you'll tell them they
must not think any such thing.'
'Why, your honour don't know half, or you'd be afraid too,' said
Jacob, lowering his voice; 'he's like nothing you ever see. He won't
let a chair nor a table be dusted in his room, though they are
covered over with cobwebs, because he says, it takes him such a
time to put his things to rights again; though all the while what he
calls being to rights is just the contrary; for it's a mere higgledy
piggledy, one thing heaped o'top of t'other, as if he did it for fun.'
The baronet gravely answered, that if there were not the proper
shelves for his books he would order more.
'Why, your honour, that's not the quarter, as I tell you! why, when
they're cleaning out his room, if they happen but to sweep away a
bit of paper as big as my hand, he'll make believe they've done him
as much mischief as if they'd stole a thousand pound. It would make
your honour stare to hear him. Mary says, she's sure he has never
been quite right ever since he come to the house.'
'But I desire you'll tell Mary I don't approve of that opinion. Dr.
Orkborne is one of the first scholars in the world, as I am credibly
informed; and I beg you'll all respect him accordingly.'
'Why, your honour, if it i'n't owing to something of that sort, why
does he behave so unaccountable? I myself heard him making such
a noise at the maids one day, that I spoke to Mary afterwards, and
asked her what was the matter?—"Laws, nobody knows," says she,
"but here's the Doctor been all in a huff again; I was just a dusting
his desk (says she) and so I happened to wipe down a little bundle
of papers, all nothing but mere scraps, and he took on as if they'd
been so many guineas (says she) and he kept me there for an hour
looking for them, and scolding, and telling such a heap of fibs, that if
he was not out of his head, would be a shame for a gentleman to
say" (says she).'
'Fie, fie, Jacob! and tell Mary fie, too. He is a very learned
gentleman, and no more a story-teller than I am myself; which God
forbid.'
'Why, your honour, how could this here be true? he told the maids
how they had undone him, and the like, only because of their
throwing down them few bits of papers; though they are ready to
make oath they picked them up, almost every one; and that they
were all of a crump, and of no manner of use.'
'Well, well, say no more about it, good Jacob, but go and give my
compliments to Dr. Orkborne, and ask him, what's the reason of his
changing his mind; I mean, provided it's no secret.'
Jacob returned in two minutes, with uplifted hands and eyes; 'your
honour,' cried he, 'now you'll believe me another time! he is worse
than ever, and I'll be bound he'll break out before another quarter.'
'Why, what's the matter?'
'Why, as sure as I'm here, he's getting together ever so many books,
and stuffing his pockets, and cramming them under his arms, just as
if he was a porter! and when I gave him your honour's message, I
suppose it put him out, for he said, "Don't hurry me so, I'm a
coming;" making believe as if he was only a preparing for going out,
in the stead of making that fool of himself.'
Sir Hugh, now really alarmed, bid him not mention the matter to
anyone; and was going upstairs himself, when he saw Dr. Orkborne,
heavily laden with books in each hand, and bulging from both coat
pockets, slowly and carefully coming down.
'Bless me,' cried he, rather fearfully, 'my dear sir, what are you going
to do with all that library?'
Dr. Orkborne, wishing him good morning, without attending to his
question, proceeding to the carriage, calling to Jacob, who stood
aloof, to make haste and open the door.
Jacob obeyed, but with a significant look at his master, that said,
'you see how it is, sir!'
Sir Hugh following him, gently put his hand upon his shoulder, and
mildly said, 'My dear friend, to be sure you know best, but I don't
see the use of loading yourself in that manner for nothing.'
'It is a great loss of time, sir, to travel without books,' answered the
Doctor, quietly arranging them in the coach.
'Travel, my good friend? Why, you don't call it travelling to go four or
five miles? why, if you had known me before my fall—However, I
don't mean to make any comparisons, you gentlemen scholars being
no particular good horsemen. However, if you were to go one
hundred miles instead of four or five, you could not get through
more than one of those books, read as hard as you please; unless
you skip half, which I suppose you solid heads leave to the lower
ignoramusses.'
'It is not for reading, sir, that I take all these books, but merely to
look into. There are many of them I shall never read in my life, but I
shall want them all.'
Sir Hugh now stared with increased perplexity; but Dr. Orkborne, as
eager to go, since his books were to accompany him, as before to
stay, told Jacob to bid the coachman make haste. Jacob looked at
his master, who ordered him to mount his mare, and the carriage
drove off.
The baronet, in some uneasiness, seated himself in the hall, to
ruminate upon what he had just heard. The quietness and usual
manner of speaking and looking of Dr. Orkborne, which he had
remarked, removed any immediate apprehensions from the
assertions of Jacob and Mary; but still he did not like the suggestion;
and the carrying off so many books, when he acknowledged he did
not mean to read one of them, disturbed him.
In every shadow of perplexity, his first wish was to consult with his
brother; and if he had not parted with both his carriages, he would
instantly have set off for Etherington. He sent, however, an express
for Mr. Tyrold, begging to see him at Cleves with all speed.
 CHAPTER IV
An internal Detection
When the chaise drove from Cleves Park, all attempt at any disguise
was over with Camilla, who alive only to the horror of appearing
ungrateful to Edgar, wept without controul; and, leaning back in the
carriage, entreated Eugenia to dispense with all conversation.
Eugenia, filled with pity, wondered, but complied, and they travelled
near four miles in silence; when, perceiving, over the paling round a
paddock, Mrs. Arlbery and a party of company, Camilla dried her
eyes, and prepared for her visit, of which the impetuosity of her
feelings had retarded all previous consideration.
Eugenia, with true concern, saw the unfitness of her sister to appear,
and proposed walking the rest of the way, in the hope that a little air
and exercise might compose her spirits.
She agreed; they alighted, and bidding the footman keep with the
carriage, which they ordered should drive slowly behind, they
proceeded gently, arm in arm, along a clean raised bank by the side
of the road, with a pace suiting at once the infirmity of Eugenia, and
the wish of delay in Camilla.
The sound of voices reached them from within the paddock, though
a thick shrubbery prevented their seeing the interlocutors.
'Can you make out the arms?' said one.
'No,' answered another, 'but I can see the postillion's livery, and I am
certain it is Sir Hugh Tyrold's.'
'Then it is not coming hither,' said a third voice, which they
recollected for Mrs. Arlbery's; 'we don't visit: though I should not
dislike to see the old baronet. They tell me [he] is a humorist; and I
have a taste for all oddities: but then he has a house full of females,
and females I never admit in a morning, except when I have secured
some men to take the entertaining them off my hands.'
'Whither is Bellamy running?' cried another voice, 'he's off without a
word.'
'Gone in hopes of a rencounter, I doubt not,' answered Mrs. Arlbery;
'he made palpable aim at one of the divinities of Cleves at the ball.'
Eugenia now grew uneasy. 'Let us be quick,' she whispered 'and
enter the house!'
'Divinities! Lord! are they divinities?' said a girlish female voice; 'pray
how old are they?'
'I fancy about seventeen.'
'Seventeen! gracious! I thought they'd been quite young; I wonder
they a'n't married!'
'I presume, then, you intend to be more expeditious?' said another,
whose voice spoke him to be General Kinsale.
'Gracious! I hope so, for I hate an old bride. I'll never marry at all, if
I stay till I am eighteen.'
'A story goes about,' said the General, 'that Sir Hugh Tyrold has
selected one of his nieces for his sole heiress; but no two people
agree which it is; they have asserted it of each.'
'I was mightily taken with one of the girls,' said Mrs. Arlbery; 'there
was something so pleasant in her looks and manner, that I even felt
inclined to forgive her being younger and prettier than myself; but
she turned out also to be more whimsical—and that there was no
enduring.'
Camilla, extremely ashamed, was now upon the point of begging
Eugenia to return, when a new speech seized all her attention.
'Do you know, General, when that beautiful automaton, Miss
Lynmere, is to marry young Mandlebert?'
'Immediately, I understand; I am told he has fitted up his house very
elegantly for her reception.'
A deep sigh escaped Camilla at such publicity in the report and belief
of the engagement of Edgar with her cousin, and brought with it a
consciousness too strong for any further self-disguise, that her
distress flowed not all from an unjust accusation: the sound alone of
the union struck as a dagger at her heart, and told her,
incontrovertibly, who was its master.
Her sensations were now most painful: she grew pale, she became
sick, and was obliged, in her turn, to lean upon Eugenia, who,
affrighted to see her thus strangely disordered, besought her to go
back to the chaise.
She consented, and begged to pass a few minutes there alone.
Eugenia therefore stayed without, walking slowly upon the bank.
Camilla, getting into the carriage, pulled up the blinds, and, no
longer self-deceived, lamented in a new burst of sorrow, her
unhappy fate, and unpropitious attachment.
This consciousness, however, became soon a call upon her integrity,
and her regret was succeeded by a summons upon propriety. She
gave herself up as lost to all personal felicity, but hoped she had
discovered the tendency of her affliction, in time to avoid the
dangers, and the errors to which it might lead. She determined to
struggle without cessation for the conquest of a partiality she
deemed it treachery to indulge; and to appease any pain she now
blushed to have caused to Indiana, by strictly following the hard
prescription of Miss Margland, and the obvious opinion of Eugenia, in
shunning the society, and no longer coveting the approbation of
Edgar. 'Such, my dear father,' she cried, 'would be your lesson, if I
dared consult you! such, my most honoured mother, would be your
conduct, if thus cruelly situated!'
This thought thrilled through every vein with pleasure, in a sense of
filial desert, and her sole desire was to return immediately to those
incomparable parents, under whose roof she had experienced
nothing but happiness, and in whose bosoms she hoped to bury
every tumultuous disturbance.
These ideas and resolutions, dejecting, yet solacing, occupied her to
the forgetfulness of her intended visit, and even of Eugenia, till the
words: 'Pray let me come to you, my dear Camilla!' made her let
down the blinds.
She then perceived Mr. Bellamy earnestly addressing her sister.
He had advanced suddenly towards her, by a short cut from the
paddock, of which she was not aware, when she was about twenty
yards from the chaise.
She made an effort to avoid him; but he planted himself in the way
of her retreat, though with an air of supplication, with which she
strove in vain to be angry.
He warmly represented the cruelty of thus flying him, entreated but
the privilege of addressing her as a common acquaintance; and
promised, upon that condition, to submit unmurmuring to her
rejection.
Eugenia, though in secret she thought this request but equitable,
made him no answer.
'O madam,' he cried, 'what have I not suffered since your barbarous
letter! why will you be so amiable, yet so inexorable?'
She attempted to quicken her pace; but again, in the same manner,
stopping her, he exclaimed: 'Do not kill me by this disdain! I ask not
now for favour or encouragement—I know my hard doom—I ask
only to converse with you—though, alas! it was by conversing with
you I lost my heart.'
Eugenia felt softened; and her countenance, which had forfeited
nothing of expression, though every thing of beauty, soon shewed
Bellamy his advantage. He pursued it eagerly; depicted his passion,
deprecated her severity, extolled her virtues and accomplishments,
and bewailed his unhappy, hopeless flame.
Eugenia, knowing that all she said, and believing that all she heard
issued from the fountain of truth, became extremely distressed. 'Let
me pass, I conjure you, Sir,' she cried, 'and do not take it ill—but I
cannot hear you any longer.'
The vivacity of bright hope flashed into the sparkling eyes of
Bellamy, at so gentle a remonstrance; and entreaties for lenity,
declarations of passion, professions of submission, and practice of
resistance, assailed the young Eugenia with a rapidity that
confounded her: she heard him with scarce any opposition, from a
fear of irritating his feelings, joined to a juvenile embarrassment how
to treat with more severity so sincere and so humble a suppliant.
From this situation, to the extreme provocation of Bellamy, she was
relieved by the appearance of Major Cerwood, who having observed,
from the paddock, the slow motion of the carriage, had come forth
to find out the cause.
Eugenia seized the moment of interruption to press forward, and
make the call to her sister already mentioned; Bellamy
accompanying and pleading, but no longer venturing to stop her: he
handed her, therefore, to the chaise, where Major Cerwood also paid
his compliments to the two ladies; and hearing they were going to
the seat of Mrs. Arlbery, whither Camilla now forced herself, though
more unwillingly than ever, he ran on, with Bellamy, to be ready to
hand them from the carriage.
They were shewn into a parlour, while a servant went into the
garden to call his mistress.
This interval was not neglected by either of the gentlemen, for
Bellamy was scarce more eager to engage the attention of Eugenia,
than the Major to force that of Camilla. By Lionel he had been
informed she was heiress of Cleves; he deemed, therefore, the
opportunity by no means to be thrown away, of making, what he
believed required opportunity alone, a conquest of her young heart.
Accustomed to think compliments always welcome to the fair, he
construed her sadness into softness, and imputed her silence to the
confusing impression made upon an inexperienced rural beauty, by
the first assiduities of a man of figure and gallantry.
In about a quarter of an hour the servant of Mrs. Arlbery slowly
returned, and, with some hesitation, said his lady was not at home.
The gentlemen looked provoked, and Camilla and Eugenia, much
disconcerted at so evident a denial, left their names, and returned to
their carriage.
The journey back to Cleves was mute and dejected: Camilla was
shocked at the conscious state of her own mind, and Eugenia was
equally pensive. She began to think with anxiety of a contract with a
person wholly unknown, and to consider the passion and constancy
of Bellamy as the emanations of a truly elevated mind, and meriting
her most serious gratitude.
At the hall door they were eagerly met by Sir Hugh, who, with
infinite surprise, enquired where they had left Dr. Orkborne.
'Dr. Orkborne?' they repeated, 'we have not even seen him.'
'Not seen him? did not he come to fetch you?'
'No, Sir.'
'Why, he went to Mrs. Arlbery's on purpose! And what he stays for at
that lady's, now you are both come away, is a thing I can't pretend
to judge of; unless he has stopt to read one of those books he took
with him; which is what I dare say is the case.'
'He cannot be at Mrs. Arlbery's, Sir,' said Eugenia, 'for we have but
this moment left her house.'
'He must be there, my dear girls, for he's no where else. I saw him
set out myself, which, however, I shan't mention the particulars of,
having sent for my brother, whom I expect every minute.'
They then concluded he had gone by another road, as there were
two ways to the Grove.
Edgar did not return to Cleves till the family were assembling to
dinner. His visit to Mrs. Needham had occasioned him a new
disturbance. She had rallied him upon the general rumour of his
approaching marriage; and his confusion, from believing his
partiality for Camilla detected, was construed into a confirmation of
the report concerning Indiana. His disavowal was rather serious than
strong, and involuntarily mixt with such warm eulogiums of the
object he imagined to be meant, that Mrs. Needham, who had only
named a certain fair one at Cleves, laughed at his denial, and
thought the engagement undoubted.
With respect to his enquiries relative to Mrs. Arlbery, Mrs. Needham
said, that she was a woman far more agreeable to the men, than to
her own sex; that she was full of caprice, coquetry, and singularity;
yet, though she abused the gift, she possessed an excellent and
uncommon understanding. She was guilty of no vices, but utterly
careless of appearances, and though her character was wholly
unimpeached, she had offended or frightened almost all the county
around, by a wilful strangeness of behaviour, resulting from an
undaunted determination to follow in every thing the bent of her
own humour.
Edgar justly deemed this a dangerous acquaintance for Camilla,
whose natural thoughtlessness and vivacity made him dread the
least imprudence in the connexions she might form; yet, as the
reputation of Mrs. Arlbery was unsullied, he felt how difficult would
be the task of demonstrating the perils he feared.
Sir Hugh, during the dinner, was exceedingly disturbed. 'What Dr.
Orkborne can be doing with himself,' said he, 'is more than any man
can tell, for he certainly would not stay at the lady's, when he found
you were both come away; so that I begin to think it's ten to one
but he's gone nobody knows where! for why else should he take all
those books? which is a thing I have been thinking of ever since;
especially as he owned himself he should never read one half of
them. If he has taken something amiss, I am very ready to ask his
pardon; though what it can be I don't pretend to guess.'
Miss Margland said, he was so often doing something or other that
was ill-bred, that she was not at all surprised he should stay out at
dinner time. He had never yet fetched her a chair, nor opened the
door for her, since he came to the house; so that she did not know
what was too bad to expect.
As they were rising from the table, a note arrived from Mr. Tyrold,
with an excuse, that important business would prevent his coming to
Cleves till the next day. Camilla then begged permission to go in the
chaise that was to fetch him, flattering herself something might
occur to detain her, when at Etherington. Sir Hugh readily assented,
and composing himself for his afternoon nap, desired to be awaked
if Dr. Orkborne came back.
All now left the room except Camilla, who, taking up a book, stood
still at a window, till she was aroused by the voice of Edgar, who,
from the Park, asked her what she was reading.
She turned over the leaves, ashamed at the question, to look for the
title; she had held the book mechanically, and knew not what it was.
He then produced the promised nosegay, which had been brought
by his gardener during her excursion. She softly lifted up the sash,
pointing to her sleeping uncle; he gave it her with a silent little bow,
and walked away; much disappointed to miss an opportunity from
which he had hoped for some explanation.
She held it in her hand some time, scarcely sensible she had taken
it, till, presently, she saw its buds bedewed with her falling tears.
She shook them off, and pressed the nosegay to her bosom. 'This, at
least,' she cried, 'I may accept, for it was offered me before that
barbarous attack. Ah! they know not the innocence of my regard, or
they would not so wrong it! The universe could not tempt me to
injure my cousin, though it is true, I have valued the kindness of
Edgar—and I must always value it!—These flowers are more
precious to me, coming from his hands, and reared in his grounds,
than all the gems of the East could be from any other possessor. But
where is the guilt of such a preference? And who that knows him
could help feeling it?'
Sir Hugh now awakening from a short slumber, exclaimed—'I have
just found out the reason why this poor gentleman has made off; I
mean, provided he is really gone away, which, however, I hope not:
but I think, by his bringing down all those books, he meant to give
me a broad hint, that he had got no proper book-case to keep them
in; which the maids as good as think too.'
Then, calling upon Camilla, he asked if she was not of that opinion.
'Y—e—s, Sir,' she hesitatingly answered.
'Well, then, my dear, if we all think the same, I'll give orders
immediately for getting the better of that fault.'
Miss Margland, curious to know how Camilla was detained, now re-
entered the room. Struck with the fond and melancholy air with
which she was bending over her nosegay, she abruptly demanded
—'Pray, where might you get those flowers?'
Covered with shame, she could make no answer.
'O, Miss Camilla! Miss Camilla!—ought not those flowers to belong to
Miss Lynmere?'
'Mr. Mandlebert had promised me them yesterday morning,'
answered she, in a voice scarce audible.
'And is this fair, Ma'am?—can you reckon it honourable?—I'll be
judged by Sir Hugh himself. Do you think it right, Sir, that Miss
Camilla should accept nosegays every day from Mr. Mandlebert,
when her cousin has had never a one at all?'
'Why, it's not her fault, you know, Miss Margland, if young Mr.
Mandlebert chuses to give them to her. However, if that vexes
Indiana, I'm sure my niece will make them over to her with the
greatest pleasure; for I never knew the thing she would not part
with, much more a mere little smell at the nose, which, whether one
has it or not, can't much matter after it's over.'
Miss Margland now exultingly held out her hand: the decision was
obliged to be prompt; Camilla delivered up the flowers, and ran into
her own room.
The sacrifice, cried she, is now complete! Edgar will conclude I hate
him, and believe Indiana loves him!—no matter!—it is fitting he
should think both. I will be steady this last evening, and to-morrow I
will quit this fatal roof!
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